The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1887-10-30
THE NEVADA LINE.
Major Litchfield on the Deep
Greek Country.
HIS TRIP AS AVANT COURIER
All the Districts Waiting for the
Railroad-CIoudso OF Men Hover.
ing on the Outskirts


other districts Whereabouts, nowadays
is received in Salt Lake with as much
avidity as news from the front in time
of war.
A HERALD representative, yesterday,
met and interviewed Major Arthur B.
Litch6eld, the well-known mining en-
gineer and superintendent, who has
been spending very busy five weeks
around the new line, near to where the
proposed Salt Lake & Los Angeles
will cross it. Mr.. Lit:hfield was for
merly superintendent of the Mammoth
Mine, in Tintic, and his reputation as a
keen and practical expert renders his
views of more than ordinary value.
Major LitchfeId left for the west over
the desert from Tintic about five weeks
ago, thoroughly equipped with an out
fit of his own. He went as the repre-
sentative of a company of Tintic men,
prominent among whom is L. E. Ritter.
the Tintic merchant, and the object of
his mission was to thoroughly inVesti-
gate the country to be opened up by
the new road with view to ascer-
tanning its facilities for min
ing, ranching and general
business. His report to his company,
therefore-some portions of which our
reporter was permitted to see-is es-
pecially interesting at this time, as it
comes in advance of and will probably
foFeshadow, that to be made by the big
party of engineers who are about to set
out on tour of inspection.
ii went carefully over the line of the
proposed road" said Major Litchield,
FROM EVANSVILLE TO MUEoY CREEK,
and / can say that as far as the railroad
is concerned, 1 found the route
entirely practicable. The passes
are low and the country level.
From Grantsville to Muncy Creek,
$50 miles, and approximately l judge
the railroad will follow the Same line.
As far as I was able to Judge the richest
mines lie in the Muncy Creek District,
which is about thirty miles south OF
Deep Creek, and from fifty to sixty
miles southwest of Clifton"
The table in Major Litch6eld's room
was covered with some very nice and
some very Interesting specimens of ore,
which be brought back with him. The
great bulk of the ore in that country is
smelling ore, and largely what would be
called in Salt Lake, frst-class so that
railroad will be of the utmost benefit"
Are any of the mines we'll deVel-
oped, or are they mostly prospects as
yetp'
"Noue of them that 1 know of are
farther down than 200 feet. But the
bodies are large where yer any sinking
has been done, and think it is per-
fectly safe 10 say there are some heavy
deposits of ORE"
Did you have any assays made2"
Yes, number for silver. From
the Grand Deposit three assays showed
1862 40 ounces, 68 lilo and "a; from
the Lucky Deposit four assays went
70 8 10, 138 4-10, 281 10 and 429 ounces,
and there were q number of smaller
ores going all the way from Is to 120
ounces. The lead, without having as
sayed, would estimate at from II to Is
per cent"
What sort of country is it for any
thing else than mining2"
1T is a very
FINE BANCRING COUNTRY.
The weather is mild, and the fall of
snow light. There is good amount Of
water-a large amount as compared
with Utah. There are already some
very tine ranch properties out there,
notably those owned by A. G. Cleve-
land, Mr.. Dooly and Mr.. White"
Did you find many men in the min
ing camps?"
"a good number; but nothing as COM
pared with the flocks that are lowering
on the outskirts everywhere, waiting for
the first stroke of the pick on the rail-
road. When that is an assured fact,
there will be such an influx into that
country as has not been witnessed in
the west of late years."
And that would mean a heavy in
crease in Salt Lakes trade, would it
not?"
"Assuredly. Everything that goes
out there even now comes this way by
wagon over the desert"
The following extract from the report
which Major Litchfeld will submit to
his company will be of particular inter
est to the mining fraternity:
ION the afternoon of the 10Th ult. l
tain District. This district being the
main objective point of my trip, ex-
amined it quite carefully. This district
Is situated in the Shell Creek range,
about thirty miles westerly from the
state line of Nevada, between Steptoe
and Spring valleys. This range is well
wooded, and has several fair-sized
streams of water considering the country
Gives Greek l should estimate at s 900
miners inches; Piermont al 1000, Kala-
mazoo at 1000, Muncy Creek at $500.
The formation is alternate bands of
strata of lime and quartzite dipping at
about 80 degrees from the horizontal to
the west. Over and above the lime and
quartzite felsitic porphyry has flowed,
making the contact between the lime
and quartsite and the porphyry very ir-
regular, and, on account of the large
amount of hillside wash, exceedingly
difficult to trace without surface exca-
vations to rock in place. That this
condition of affairs is of moment is
evidenced by the fact that some of the
best prospects in this camp are found